Okay, right off the bat I have to explain my title. "A Nice Morning Drive" is a short story by the author Richard S. Foster about a future where automobiles are illegal, and driving for pleasure is a crime. This story was adapted into the song "Red Barchetta" by Neil Peart of Rush, my favorite band, for their "Moving Pictures" album. In it, the protagonist keeps a vintage roadster in his uncle's country barn, and defies the law with a little weekend motoring. If ever a song was written to drive dangerously fast to, this is it. I loved the song so much when I was in my early twenties I named my first car, a red Pontiac J2000 hatchback, "Red Barchetta," and spent many a happy afternoon tearing through the back roads behind my house with the song pumping through the car's tape deck. In retrospect, this was a supremely stupid thing to do, and I was thoroughly lucky I wasn't killed. But it was great fun at the time, and having lived through it, I wouldn't change it for anything.
That said, if I ever catch my daughter trying something like that, I'll ground her for a year.
As an aside, Peart's "Red Barchetta" is apparently based on a real car — a Ferrari 166 MM Touring Barchetta Speciale, a 1948 example of which appears above. To give credit where credit is due, I got the photo from the Classical Drives website, but a full gallery and history can be found here at ultimatecarpage.com. I will resist the urge to talk about this particular model, lest I confirm my ignorance, but this rare little beastie is apparently Peart's "Barchetta," since the rear-projection displays when the band played this song live showed this car.
As for my own personal "Barchetta," it wasn't long before the 4-syllable name I had emblazoned on the front license plate was shortened to the more familiar "chetta." I drove her all the way through college, and wrecked her once to my shame. When my new bride and I drove off into the sunset after our wedding, it was in that car. Finally, after eight years, I was forced to trade her in on a Ford Ranger pickup truck.
I still miss her to this day.
